The Law and Its Compass: 1960 Rosenthal Lectures

Out of Print

The 1960 Rosenthal Letures: Northwestern University School of Law

Lord Radcliffe, a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary since 1949, is among the most istinguished living lawyers not only in this country but in the world. The Law and its Compass consists of three lectures which he delivered at Northwestern University, Illinois, in May 1960.

In them he deals with a large number of questions-all difficult, some fundamental in their importance. Is law in fact a 'pillar of society' ? Has the secularization of law weakened its cohesive force? Is a return to the concept of Natural Law possible or even desirable? These are some of the problems discussed in the first lecture.

In the second, Lord Radcliffe turns to the difficulties raised when 'public policy' becomes an element in the making of judicial decisions; and in the third he discusses what is perhaps the most important problem of all-the problem of how freedom is to be preserved and strengthened in the context of modern society.

This is not in any sense a 'specialist' book, written for lawyers only. It is a stimulating and thought-provoking survey of certain basic concepts which we are perhaps tempted to take for granted and which in fact require constant and rigorous re-examination. Lord Radcliffe has written a new preface specially for this edition.